Tulip Mania: How Dutch Traders Bankrupted Themselves Over Flower Bulbs
In February 1637, the Dutch economy experienced one of the most bizarre financial collapses in history. The cause? Flower bulbs. Not gold. Not land. Not ships or spices or any of the valuable commodities that drove the Dutch Golden Age. Tulip bulbs. At the peak, a single rare tulip bulb sold for 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. One bulb—“Semper Augustus”—was worth more than a luxury canal house in Amsterdam. ...